I chose to study Spanish in high school. For me, ultimately, it has turned out not to be the best choice for a second language, either personally or professional. I work internationally, and I know now that French would have served me far, far better. But back in the 1980s, my mother kept telling me, “They only speak French in France.” And I was just a small town girl from Kentucky – what did I know? I believed her. When I moved to Germany, I resumed studies in Spanish when found that my employer, the UN, offered free classes in such, forgoing not only French, but German as well (I thought I would be in Germany for only a year or two). And it was only after a couple of years I realized just how much I had handicapped myself by my second language choice, both personally and professionally. Most of my colleagues at the UN in Germany spoke French, most Africans I met (and continue to meet) speak French before English, and most international workers I have worked with outside of Germany speak French as a second language. Had I learned French, I would probably still be living in Europe; I certainly would have a full time job with an international development agency by now.

I ended up living in Germany for eight years, marrying my husband, a German. When a few years later my husband and I traveled throughout Eastern Europe, almost everyone spoke German – it’s by far the most popular second language among anyone working in the tourism industry in most of Europe. Germans seem to be everywhere in the world, and I would have had endless opportunities to speak German over the years outside of Germany — but Spanish, not so much. German would have not only served me well living in Germany, it would have served me well in my travels.

Again, I don’t at all want to imply that I’m saying Spanish is not a good second language choice. I’m sure it’s going to serve me professionally at some point in the future, and that’s why I’m going to continue to cultivate my skills in such. But a lot of factors go into a parent’s selection of their child’s second language, everything from their ethnic or cultural heritage to the neighborhood where they live to their career hopes. Spanish is, indeed, the best choice as a second language for most native English-speaking American children. But it is not automatically the best choice for ALL children.

What’s more important than Kristof’s idea of requiring every American to choose Spanish as a second language: I could totally get behind requiring that every American child both master English and learn a second language, whatever that second language is. Americans are getting their butts kicked in the global marketplace by other countries, where even the working class speaks at least two languages. In the USA, the tragedy isn’t that rich parents are choosing Chinese as their child’s second language; it’s that learning any second language is reserved almost exclusively for only rich school districts and private schools.

And I’ll end with this: my German husband is on a business trip right now. He’s in China.

2 thoughts on “Children in the USA should learn a 2nd language – but it shouldn’t have to be Spanish”

I strongly believe that English speakers need to learn a second language. We have been lucky that English has been the ipso facto international language for the last 50-600 years. We will start to see a shift I think. Language translation software is starting to make it easy for people not to learn English. Other languages are starting to be re asserted.While I have already said language translation software will be very powerful and useful in the future, face to face transactions will still dominate. Having the ability and confidence to communicate and negotiate yourself will earn english speakers in a world where China, Brazil, India are very strong players.And you are right Jayne , the US risks being left behind in the global economy. And globalisation seems unstoppable. (Australian is a good international language). LOL

I very much agree with your main point, for equity as well as economic reasons.While English should remain our common tongue, that currently gives native speakers a learning advantage over citizens with different linguistic backgrounds — Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, or whatever. Asking all students in our schools to learn English and at least one other language will equalize the language-learning challenge, enlarge our cultural repertoire, and enhance our competitiveness in global marketplaces.